Ten Economic Principles Worth Fighting For

Today's Post - https://bahnsen.co/4yXEhxi David Bahnsen argues investors focus too much on describing or predicting the economy and not enough on prescriptive first principles about what a market economy ought to be. He outlines 10 “non-negotiable” tenets of free enterprise: private property; the profit motive; division of labor; innovation and progress; capital and labor enhancing one another (rejecting a Marxian conflict view); laissez-faire as the default with prudent regulation; incentives matter; Hayek’s knowledge problem and the dangers of centralized planning; an economics of addition and multiplication (growth) over subtraction and division (redistribution/zero-sum thinking), including how his firm invests; and “work” as the verb of economics that animates prosperity and service to others. He warns these principles are being treated as dispensable across modern political discourse, with consequences for portfolios. 00:00 Why Principles Matter 02:08 Ten Non Negotiables 03:11 Private Property 08:51 Profit Motive 10:29 Division of Labor 11:45 Innovation and Progress 13:25 Capital and Labor 15:32 Laissez Faire 16:32 Incentives Matter 18:05 Knowledge Problem 21:09 Growth Not Zero Sum 23:31 Work The Verb 25:19 Closing Thoughts Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com TheBahnsenGroup.com